A report from MacRumors claimed last week that Apple's smart glasses will support hand gesture controls similar to Vision Pro, using a second low-resolution camera to read hand movements and trigger Siri. Bloomberg's Mark Gurman pushed back publicly the same day. "The technology to do this reliably with a single camera, no neural band and no eye-scanning doesn't exist today as far as I know," Gurman wrote. "I am extremely skeptical."
Vision Pro's hand tracking uses 12 cameras, dedicated eye-tracking hardware, and a chip designed specifically for spatial computing. Apple's glasses are expected to ship with one or two cameras, no display, and a battery that's already a major design constraint given the need to keep the frames thin and light enough to actually wear all day.
Gurman says the first version will include head gestures similar to AirPods, where nodding or shaking triggers actions, plus Siri voice commands. 9to5Mac noted the MacRumors source may have mistaken talk of head gesture support for hand gesture support, which would explain where the rumor came from.
The glasses are expected to be announced in late 2026, with a retail launch in early 2027. Apple is reportedly developing four different frame styles, all in acetate, a premium material that's more durable than the plastic used in most smart glasses.
For anyone considering Samsung's Galaxy Glasses or Ray-Ban Meta as a purchase in the meantime, the Apple timeline and feature set are now clearer: cameras, Siri, open-ear audio, and a design Apple is betting will be noticeably better than what's on the market. Hand gestures, for now, are someone else's feature to ship first.